I Had A Random Thought...

[Patrick R]

Every bar I see is mostly full of 20-somethings in groups. I don't know why they don't save a shitload of money, be more comfortable, have control over music, not have to deal with potential assholes, etc. by not meeting at one of their homes.

[tberton]

Every bar I see is mostly full of 20-somethings in groups. I don't know why they don't save a shitload of money, be more comfortable, have control over music, not have to deal with potential assholes, etc. by not meeting at one of their homes.

 

Reasons people might go to bars with friends:

 

They have draft beer.

They have better cocktails or food than you care to/are able to make for yourself.

You don't want to clean your house for guests (which you mentioned).

You don't want to clean your house after guests (which you didn't mention, but I think is a bigger reason).

There's a bar near you that has a great atmosphere/employees.

You want to watch a sports game and don't have cable.

Your friend live far away and its easier to meet at a halfway point than go all the way to their place or have them come to yours.

You're going dancing afterwards and the bar is near the club.

You have neighbours that don't like people being noisy late at night.

Your house or apartment isn't big enough to accomodate your friends.

You live in an out of the way or dangerous neighbourhood that your friends don't want to go to.

You and your friends want to meet people.

You live with other people who don't want to be bothered by your friends.

There's a bar near your workplace or school, so you go there with classmates or coworkers.

 

I'm sure there are more.

[Twig]

I don't like going to bars at all really. Hmm well that's not true. I like a quiet bar. The atmosphere is good. Even loud bars can have a good atmosphere, sometimes, but quiet ones reign supreme.

 

Anyway what I'm getting at is that sometimes it just feels good to be around other people feeling good.

[Patrick R]

I guess it's just one of those things I don't get, then. I'm in a very different place in my life where none of that really applies to me, or at the very least, certainly doesn't outweigh the idea of spending 5+ dollars a drink, which is insane to me.

[WickedCestus]

Lots of 20-somethings live with their parents also, and who the heck wants to drink with their parents. 

[miffy495]

I cut out TV a long time (~6 years) ago, but am still a sports fan. Particularly during the NHL playoffs, I frequent bars to grab a pint, some cheap wings, and watch a sports game that I can't watch at home. Feels justified to me.

[Patrick R]

Yeah, that totally makes sense. I don't watch any sports so it never even occurred to me.

[Griddlelol]

I go out to bars because it's a lot easier to leave when you're done socialising for the night. If people are around your house it's sometimes impossible to get rid of them.

[Cordeos]

Yeah, that totally makes sense. I don't watch any sports so it never even occurred to me.

In the US is a good way to watch foreign sports too. A lot of pubs show soccer during the day. Good way to meet other fans too.

[Mangela Lansbury]

I have met some of my closest friends at bars. It's how I met my last boyfriend. They also provide a nice common ground when meeting someone from the Internet for the first time.

[Patrick R]

I am totally incapable of talking to strangers in any context that isn't, like, a wedding. And even then not really. The idea of meeting someone at a bar (or any public place) is so incredibly strange to me. So clearly, they serve purposes for the 98% of people who aren't broke neurotic messes like myself.

[Griddlelol]

I've only ever met one girl in a bar, and we dated for like 2 weeks. No idea how people go up to others in bars and just talk to them, seems incredibly ballsy, especially as most people are just hanging around talking with their friends. 

[Cordeos]

The idea of approaching some one out of the blue at a bar or public space is so weird to me. I don't know why they are there and its probably not to talk to me. I really hate imposing on people.

[Mangela Lansbury]

A relevant excerpt from an article I saw today:

 

"That was my first lesson that gay bars are more than just licensed establishments where homosexuals pay to drink. Gay bars are therapy for people who can’t afford therapy; temples for people who lost their religion, or whose religion lost them; vacations for people who can’t go on vacation; homes for folk without families; sanctuaries against aggression. They take sound and fabric and flesh from the ordinary world, and under cover of darkness and the influence of alcohol or drugs, transform it all into something that scrapes up against utopia."

 

http://www.thenation.com/article/please-dont-stop-the-music/

[Twig]

I am totally incapable of talking to strangers in any context that isn't, like, a wedding. And even then not really. The idea of meeting someone at a bar (or any public place) is so incredibly strange to me. So clearly, they serve purposes for the 98% of people who aren't broke neurotic messes like myself.

You and me both, brother. ;_;

[Patrick R]

A relevant excerpt from an article I saw today:

 

"That was my first lesson that gay bars are more than just licensed establishments where homosexuals pay to drink. Gay bars are therapy for people who can’t afford therapy; temples for people who lost their religion, or whose religion lost them; vacations for people who can’t go on vacation; homes for folk without families; sanctuaries against aggression. They take sound and fabric and flesh from the ordinary world, and under cover of darkness and the influence of alcohol or drugs, transform it all into something that scrapes up against utopia."

 

http://www.thenation.com/article/please-dont-stop-the-music/

 

Yeah, obviously gay bars are a different thing, I understand the need for safe spaces.

[vehementa]

I think the general idea with bars is you go there with a group of friends, and then they might bump into friends of theirs, you're all introduced, etc. Atleast that's how it works in the land of craic, hibernia.

 

I've been playing a lot of CK2 lately but also happened upon my genealogy folder. The thought struck me, what if there was a historical strategy game in the style of crusader kings, that was sourced by genealogists, so that actual real life family trees could be found inside the game. Crusader Kings does damn good getting into the nitty gritty of historical family trees and the like, so I guess this would be mostly flavour, giving characters some personality traits and some small happenings. And I assume you'd have to limit relevant people to be landholders or particularly rich/influencial people... The only real problem being that CK2 ends far too early for most family trees to stretch back. I've an impressive find stretching back into the 1600's but I believe that is far from common, nearly impossible in some countries. I haven't seen a Swedish family tree stretch back further than the 1880's, unless the relatives in question immigrated from more southern areas.

 

Still, I will dream of playing crusader kings furthering my actual dynasty... One day. Maybe.

[Griddlelol]

I'm in the same office as the vice head of the dept. Every 5 minutes a student comes and asks me where she is. Every 5 minutes I tell them I have no idea. Why do people assume I'm her protector? I'm just sitting in my office working. If she leaves I don't ask her where she's going!

 

Absolutely drives me crazy. I feel like I need a sign on the door saying "No, I don't know where she is, go away."

 

The worst part is the lab isn't even that big. Just go look in the lab!

[Bjorn]

I was listening to a You are Not So Smart podcast episode on mindfullness and meditation, which focused on the trend of stripping out all the classic eastern religion/philosophy of it and also stripping out the new agey bullshit, and then trying to back up the practices with scientific theory and data about why the practices themselves are still beneficial.

And it got me thinking, could you do that with a western religion.  Could you do that with Catholicism?

Like:

Attend a public gathering of celebration once a week  (mass)

Attend a public educational event once a week (bible study)

Take 15 minutes of quiet time a day to give thanks for the good in your life (prayer)

Attend a therapy session at least once a month, more if you current circumstances are such that you would benefit from more regular counseling. (confession)

I'm pretty sure I could find marginally relevant scientific studies to back up how each of those as individual actions is good for you.

 

Edited to add:  I guess I was doing this as a thought experiment to see how weird it would be to treat a western religion like we treat eastern religions, and actually it looks pretty reasonable. 

[Twig]

There's a lot to act of practicing a religion that is, I'd argue, unequivocally good! That's a pretty good list of the things I'd pull out from Catholicism.

 

And here's where I'd normally talk about the shitty things religion does but nahhhhh!

[neonrev]

There's a number of atheist groups that preform non-religious church-style services, with the usual group in pews, a sermon (or lecture or speech or what have you) on some topic, with study groups on more focused topics for those who want it. It basically imitates the social structures of a church, but they aren't organized or large enough to achieve the same level of services like counseling or financial aid that a lot of christian churches provide.

I often times find myself really missing singing hymns in church as a kid, as it's one of the few places that you can sing loudly and poorly in a group setting and no one minds.

[Gormongous]

I often times find myself really missing singing hymns in church as a kid, as it's one of the few places that you can sing loudly and poorly in a group setting and no one minds.

 

Yeah, I really enjoy singing the Doxology and there's basically no place in my life for it now that I haven't gone to church in nearly a decade.

[Bjorn]

There's a number of atheist groups that preform non-religious church-style services, with the usual group in pews, a sermon (or lecture or speech or what have you) on some topic, with study groups on more focused topics for those who want it. It basically imitates the social structures of a church, but they aren't organized or large enough to achieve the same level of services like counseling or financial aid that a lot of christian churches provide.

 

There's a group like that in Kansas City, but I've never gone because they hold church like hours.  Their main gathering is Sunday morning, and that's just like the one part of the week that I am least interested in going out to do something.  Sunday mornings are for drinking coffee and reading on the front porch. 

[Vulpes Absurda]

I've been on Twitter for about five years now, I've tweeted all sort of things (Mostly foxes I'll be honest) but before Sunday I'd never had anything go over ten retweets in till I tweeted this:

 

"Have I tweeted this picture before?:

"

 

One follower retweeted it and now it has 33 retweets and 73 faves, two of them from people who follow me.

 

The internet is weird.

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Dewar]

I have one of these mind-worms events that may have really happened, or may have happened in a dream, and I have no idea where and if I imagined it.

 

I remember someone saying something similar to "And I'll make sure to boost the volume, because I know some folks have been complaining about that," and subsequently thinking "yeah, that's the one thing that bugs me about this." This could have happened in any number of Podcasts, YouTube videos, or Twitch streams, but while there are certainly a few that are quiet, there aren't any that I couldn't have just messed with my computer/phone settings to make louder. I'm starting to think that I literally just dreamed it all.